Xin Ping and Guo Tu, sided with Yuan Tan, who based himself in Pingyuan County. The Yuan brothers then waged war against each other. In 203, when Yuan Shang attacked Yuan Tan at Pingyuan County, Guo Tu advised Yuan Tan to make peace with Cao Cao and ally with Cao Cao to counter Yuan Shang. After Yuan Tan reluctantly agreed, Guo Tu nominated Xin Ping's brother Xin Pi to serve as Yuan Tan's representative to meet Cao Cao. Xin Pi succeeded in his mission and managed to convince Cao Cao to help Yuan Tan. Cao Cao then led his forces to Liyang (黎陽; present-day Xun County, Henan). Earlier on, when conflict first broke out between Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, Xin Ping's brother Xin Pi accompanied Yuan Tan to Pingyuan County but left his family members behind in Yuan Shang's base at Ye city. Yuan Shang later ordered the Xin family to be arrested and imprisoned. In 204, Cao Cao led his forces to attack Yuan Shang at the Battle of Ye. When Cao Cao's forces broke through Ye's defences, Shen Pei, who was in charge of defending Ye, blamed Xin Pi for the Yuan family's downfall so he ordered his men to execute the Xin family in prison. After Ye fell to Cao Cao's forces, Xin Pi, who was with Cao Cao at the time, rushed to the prison to free his family but it was too late as all of them were already dead. While it is unknown whether Xin Ping was executed along with his family, there is no further mention of him in historical records. See also Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms References Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi). Fan, Ye (5th century). Book of the Later Han (Houhanshu). Pei, Songzhi (5th century). Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu). 2nd-century births 3rd-century deaths Officials under Yuan Shao Officials under Cao Cao